I love having big projects with distant deadlines. My next deadline is in 11 days. The one after that is a week later. I can just sit in my office and work at my own pace. When I'm feeling productive I can tear through the text, producing rough draft as fast as I can type. When I'm feeling less productive, I can idly read related websites for research until the productivity kicks in. When I'm feeling tired, I can close my door, turn my back towards the window, position myself as though I was reading a paper on the desk, and close my eyes for a few minutes.

No one checks up on my progress because nothing is due for days, I don't have to check in with anyone, and my text benefits from several days worth of Second Cup Early Edition-induced morning freshness! (SENTENCE! and this coming from someone who was bitching about noun phrases earlier today!)

In the back of my mind it has sort of become a given that I will go to grad school and get my MA in a couple of years. I want to do my MA one course at a time over 2 or 3 years, but York has this stupid system whereby you pay a set rate per semester of graduate studies, regardless of the number of courses you are taking. So it would be better financially to do as many courses as possible for 1 or 2 years, but I certainly can't maintain that and work full-time. I don't NEED my MA so there's no point in wearing myself out taking all the courses offered, but it's such a shameful waste of money, and it simply isn't worth $1000 per term for just one course